Costa Concordia

After one year, the cruise ship Costa Concordia still remains aground off Isola del Giglio, Italy. Salvage plans to remove the wreck began in earnest in May 2012 with plans to refloat the crippled ship in early June 2013. Back in January 13, 2012, the Costa Concordia began its first leg of a cruise around the Mediterranean Sea with 4,252 people on board. The captain had deviated from the ship’s scheduled route to pass closely by Isola del Giglio. As the vessel approached near the island, it struck a reef gashing a large hole into the hull. The vessel soon lost power before it capsized onto its side. A six hour evacuation of the vessel nearly all the passengers were brought ashore, but 32 people perished as the vessel sank. Later, it was announced that the Costa Concordia was a constructive total loss. Latest reports state damages from the incident will cost over 500 million US dollars.

Photos of Salvage Operations

Documentary

Removal Plans

The plan, which will re-float the vessel’s hull, places the highest priority for ensuring the lowest possible environmental impact as well as the conservation of tourist and economic activities on the island of Giglio, with maximum safety precautions.

Environmental protection will be the top priority throughout operations of this mammoth recovery. The plan also includes measures to safeguard the economic and tourist activities on the island of Giglio. Staff will work to remove asbestos. The work is not expected to have any significant effects on the summer tourist season. To further reduce any impact on the activities of the Marina del Giglio, the base for the salvage operations will be off the island, near Piombino, where equipment and materials will be collected for the work.

There are four stages of operation in the salvage plan, as follows:

First, once the ship has been stabilized, an underwater platform will be built and watertight boxes, or caissons, fixed to the side of the ship that is above water.
Two cranes fixed to the platform will pull the ship upright, helped by the weight of the caissons, which will be filled with water.
When the ship is upright, caissons will be fixed to the other side of the hull to stabilize it.
Finally, the caissons on both sides will be emptied, after the water inside has been purified to protect the marine environment, and filled with air.

Once floating, the wreck will be towed to an Italian port. Once the removal is complete, the salvage team will clean the waters and the restore the marine flora.

The plan was evaluated from a technical standpoint by a committee, composed of experts representing Costa Cruises, Carnival Corporation & plc, London Offshore Consultants and Standard P & I Club, in collaboration with RINA and Fincantieri, in accordance with the requirements and recommendations set by the Italian authorities. The plan was evaluated to ensure that it would meet the main requirements: removal of the entire wreck with maximum safety precautions and as little impact to the environment, tourism and economy of Giglio.

Salvaging the Costa Concordia (bbc.co.uk)
Concordia survivors salute the dead (iol.co.za)
Survivors, relatives mark anniversary of Costa Concordia shipwreck (ctvnews.ca)

Costa Concordia Update

February 22, 2012 Paul Hancock

Search and Recovery

Eight bodies were discovered by salvage workers from the submerged section of Deck 4 of the cruise ship. The workers were able to recover four of the bodies before weather conditions halted operations.

Oil Recovery

The first phase of removal of fuel from the Costa Concordia was completed. Fuel was successfully pumped from the six tanks in the bow section removing some 1600 tons of the 2380 tons of fuel on board. The second phase will remove fuel from nine tanks at the stern of the vessel which contains roughly 17% of the total fuel. The fuel in the stern section was reported to be more difficult to reach and will take roughly three weeks to completely pump out.

Displacement

Authorities have been tracking the movement of the vessel as it slowly creeps off the rocky ledge it currently rests. Recent estimates place the average movement near two centimeters (approx one inch) an hour. The vessel has made slight accelerations due to weather or sea conditions. If the Costa Concordia does not increase its speed, it should allow time for all the fuel to removed.

Review of Cruise Ship Incidents

January 26, 2012 Paul Hancock

The Costa Concordia grounding is not an isolated event for the cruise ship industry. Here are just small list of major accidents reported in the news since 2007:

September 15, 2011 – The MS Nordlys had an explosion in the engine room the caused a large fire killing two crew and evacuation of the vessel at Hurtigruten, Norway.
April 15, 2011 – The MV Ocean Star Pacific had an engine room fire forcing 748 passengers and crew to be evacuated off the ship to Huatulco, Mexico.
January 31, 2011 – The Polar Star ran aground off Antarctica damaging the vessel’s outer hull with passengers evacuated to another vessel.
December 7, 2010 – The Clelia II was struck by a large wave off the remote South Shetland Islands suffering engine damage.
December 3, 2010 – The RMS Queen Mary 2 suffered an explosion causing a short term power outage.
November 8, 2010 – The MV Carnival Splendor had an engine room fire resulting in a complete power loss. The vessel towed back to San Diego with the US Navy providing food for passengers.
October 18, 2010 – The Costa Classica collided with a cargo vessel in the Yangtze River inflicting a 20 meter long gash between passenger decks.
Feb 26, 2010 – The Costa Europa allided into a quay at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt tearing a two meter hole drowning three crew and injuring four passengers.
June 18, 2009 – The MV Royal Princess had a fire in the engine room off Port Said, Egypt causing extensive damage.
February 26, 2009 – The Costa Romantica had a fire in the generator room causing a power outage. Passengers were evacuated after crew was unable to repair the generators.
June 21, 2008 – The MV Princess of the Stars capsized and sank off San Fernando, Philippines when struck by a typhoon. The vessel with 860 passengers and crew on board had only 32 survivors.
November 23, 2007 – The cruise ship Explorer struck a submerged object off Antarctica and sank. No lives were lost, but over 150 individuals were forced into open lifeboats.
April 5, 2007 – The MV Sea Diamond struck a reef of the Greek island of Santorini with 1195 passengers on board. Vessel filled with water and later sank. Two passengers lost.